


Broken Walls

by sharktailedmermaid



Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: M/M, Stream of Consciousness, Unrequited Love, kind of???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 00:17:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7552738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharktailedmermaid/pseuds/sharktailedmermaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Here’s Jay, the little broken bird who swooped into his life - the first real friend he’s had since Brian, and even with his sharp edges, Jay is worth it. Jay Merrick the script supervisor is worth it.</p>
<p>(entry 72+)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Walls

Tim always found it hard to look away from the boy with the serious eyes; the script supervisor, as Alex called him, but Brian found it easier to call him Jay, so Tim did too. His eyes are the same now - a little dazed, all the time, but kindhearted, and his tone of voice might be sharp but the voice itself is so soft and tempered that Tim can’t even get angry when Jay snaps at him.

He screams all this to himself and more as he turns back into the hell he’s been trying to run from for so long. All for a boy.

_“JAY!”_

It’s ripped from his throat - “oh no no _no no no”_ \- as he scrambles back over the fence, as he turns his ankle tumbling across the uneven ground GET UP! JAY, GET UP! It’s there, big and menacing, and it looks more inhuman the closer Tim gets - he can’t drag Jay away; he’s weakened from coughing, so there’s only one thing left to do, and accepting for the moment the idea that this is all his fault and the creature is only tormenting them because of Tim - then by extension that means he truly has been fighting it since childhood, which means he’s inured to its effects, and it’s focused on Jay right now, anyway, so, with all his willpower, he’s able to clench his hand into a fist. And stand up.

He tries to take a swing, but it’s like the air is heavy. Tim’s head is burning, like something’s grating on itself inside his brain - _the world is ending_ -

It’s gone. It clips out of view and he stumbles.

He’s still on his feet.

Jay’s coughing.

Alive. Jay’s alive. Tim clings to that feverishly; runs to his side, drops, shakes Jay, get up, c’mon, let’s go to the car, yes, we’re going to the car C’MON; Jay’s disoriented and might be slipping in and out of consciousness and Tim’s head is boiling over _oh_ can he even drive like this? There’s no time for concern right now; there’s only one place Tim Wright wants to be right now, and that’s away.

-

The last time he did this for anyone other than himself was that time Brian was sick back in college. Tim’s rusty. He doesn’t take care of people, and people don’t take care of him. But -

Here’s Jay, the little broken bird who swooped into his life - the first real friend he’s had since Brian, and even with his sharp edges, Jay is worth it. Jay Merrick the script supervisor is worth it. Tim buys him food (if it can even be called that - but he does pick up some microwavable soup the day the little mini-mart across the street from their hotel room has a sale, and that’s enough to rouse Jay for a whole hour) and tucks him in and holds him when his eyes flash dangerously around under his eyelids and Tim keeps him warm, tries to keep him safe - gives in; forces Jay to take some of the pills when it gets really bad, because there’s nothing else he can do -

Jay wakes up about four days into this endeavor and is broody and antagonistic and when Tim again presents the idea that he seek help, Jay looks like he accepts it only so Tim will shut up. And for just a moment, Tim thinks he preferred Jay better when he was asleep.

But no; there was no light in his eyes, then, no life to his dangerously thin frame: no hands playing idly with the edges of his shirt when he’s worried, and Tim’s starting to fear for himself, because he never had these kinds of thoughts before their last encounter with _that thing._ Jay doesn’t notice anything different, so Tim shakes it off, tries to tell himself something mysterious that’s been scratching at the back of his head for months hasn’t suddenly doubled in size without him noticing.

Jay walks back to the car and amicably answers Tim’s questions about the health center and it’s enough: Jay says the doctors will try to fit him in for an appointment and Tim’s heart fills with sunshine, tentative, but radiant, because Jay’s finally getting help and if Jay can be willing to confront his own mental illness, that’s a step forward for the two of them to escaping this lifestyle and rebuilding some of the broken walls they’ve borne. Tim finds himself fantasizing about a life after this one and he feels ridiculous when it comes to him that he’s including Jay in his future.

-

It only hits him how foolish he really was when Jay dies.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in like march, man. idk
> 
> tumblr: aromtt


End file.
